This disclosure relates to a system and method for destroying a firearm and more particularly to a firearms pulverizer system and method for destroying a firearm and authenticating and recording the destruction of the firearm.
Every year numerous firearms are confiscated, surrendered, or seized by law enforcement agencies. While seizure and recovery numbers are not published, public ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) data reflects over 344,000 traces of “crime guns”, were conducted in 2012, while over 6 million firearm serial numbers were checked by agencies. It is estimated that over a million guns are recovered annually by law enforcement, not including those obtained through agency buy-back programs. Once the law enforcement agency no longer has a need to hold onto a confiscated or surrendered firearm, the firearm may be destroyed.
In some agencies, seized guns are destroyed by sawing in-half or cutting with an acetylene torch. Other agencies destroy guns by crushing the gun with a sledge hammer. All of these methods are inherently dangerous tasks. A few agencies transport weapons to car shredders or foundries with an increased risk of loss or theft during the process. It is known that car shredders discharge large hunks of steel through which a small firearm may emerge unscathed by the process. Some steel mills are no longer melting guns due to liability issues and environmental concerns. Since firearms may contain materials such as lead residue, cleaning chemicals, plastic, and treated wood parts, destruction of firearms may release potentially harmful chemicals when burned. As can be appreciated, there are sizable hidden costs for agencies that destroy firearms. For example, there are costs incurred for the packaging, shipping, storing, record-keeping, and eventual destruction of seized firearms. Some agencies, due to budgetary constraints, are not able to destroy firearms and must store or warehouse the confiscated weapons. A number of agencies recently increased the size of their storage rooms to store recovered firearms. Since the firearms are stored and not destroyed, there is the possibility of the firearms being misplaced or lost.
Further, once a firearm is destroyed, there is typically no record of the destruction of the firearm. For example, each firearm includes a unique identification number such as a serial number or an evidence identification number. However, once destroyed, there is no way to authenticate which firearm was destroyed or to check against a database to determine if a firearm had ever been destroyed.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a firearms pulverizer system that quickly and easily destroys a firearm, authenticates the firearm being destroyed, and records the destruction of the firearm. It would be advantageous to have a firearms pulverizer system that is mobile and can be transported to an agency's storage facility. It would also be advantageous to have a firearms pulverizer system that can provide a database of destroyed firearms for checking against other weapons databases.